Ephesians 2:5 – deaths and yet alive

… rich in mercy, because of His vast love with which He loves us; we also being dead to the offenses and the lusts, vivifies us together in Christ (in grace are you saved)

Remarkable: first Paul writes about God’s “vast love with which He loves us”, subsequently he focusses it to “we also being dead to the offences…” The “us” in the first part are all people beloved by God. The “we” in the second part are the believers who have been “saved” already.

The “saved” are described in two ways. On the one hand as “being dead” and otherwise as “vivified”. It seems contradictory, until we understand that believers are united with Christ. He died and we died with him. This is as God reckons. Towards the offenses and the lusts, we died. That’s over, those play no part anymore. For God we are one with Christ and so we share in his perfection. That is not based on our feeling or our experience, but on the fact that God sees us in that way and reckons like that.

Because we are united with Christ, we are also connected to his resurrection. The offenses and the death are behind us, and a new, everlasting life lies open for us.